According to Phillies PR man Greg Casterioto, Cole Hamels was examined this morning as scheduled by the team physician, and the initial report was positive, indicating "no structural damage." That's all we have for now; we should hear from Ruben Amaro Jr. later.

'No structural damage' to Hamels' elbow

Andy Martino

Posted:
Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 10:46 AM

Here's the Colbert Report, delivered to reporters by Ruben Amaro Jr. and trainer Scott Sheridan, and relayed to me by Jim Salisbury:

Amaro: ``He had an MRI and a dynamic ultrasound. There’s no structural damage to his ligament. In fact, there’s no structural damage at all....It’s pretty much the scenario we thought going into this. It’s relatively good news. Anytime a procedure like this has to be done, it’s a concern. But relatively speaking, it’s good news....There is some inflammation in the posterior lateral aspect of the elbow. It was treated with a shot of cortisone."

The shot requires Hamels take the next two days off. After that, he can return to his throwing program. As for opening day....``I don’t make those decisions,’’ Amaro said. ``We’ll find out how it goes when he starts throwing again.’’

Sheridan said: ``If his throwing goes well, he’ll get some mound work and a bullpen, then we’ll worry about games and schedule.’’

Asked what caused the issue in the first place, Sheridan said: ``Throwing caused it. We tried to get the inflammation out without an injection. It wasn’t happening, so we sent him to Philly.’’

Hamels is due back in Clearwater tonight.

To clarify: we reported yesterday morning that Hamels had inflammation in his left shoulder.

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